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Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk is a German band from Dusseldorf founded in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider -Esleben and is still active. Kraftwerk has had a great influence on the development of the electronic music . Contents * 1 Musical philosophy * 2 Origins * 3 Breakthrough * 4 Mainstream * 5 New work * 6 Live * 7 Stage Presentation * 8 Influences * 9 Controversy * 10 Trivia * 11 Composition * 12 Discography * 13 Radio 2 Top 2000 Musical philosophy Initially, the group concentrates more on avant-garde music with regular instruments. It will be added from 1970 electronic devices, including tone generators, commissioned built vocoders and electronic drum sets where Florian Schneider has patents on. The band often build their own instruments because it can not afford the usual synthesizers from the early seventies. The band was in those years, akin to German bands like Can , Neu , and Tangerine Dream in Britain are often merged with the derogatory term Krautrock . The change comes in 1974 , with the album Autobahn, and the use of synthesizers, both self-made and purchased, is commonplace and acoustic instruments completely disappear from the job. In the ensuing years experimenting band members and seek out the opportunities offered by electronic music. The music is repetetiever with frequently recurring themes, which are manipulated electronically. The lyrics are often narrative and observational or sometimes mildly amusing. Schneider and Hütter develop the philosophy of musikarbeiter ', music laborers which perform the highly anonymous group members each have their prescribed duties. The band sticks, especially in later years, a great deal of time in the search for electronic sounds and thereby composing songs. Also spent both in the eighties and between 2000-2010 a lot of time to digitize and digitally remastering the sounds and songs and perfecting the live act, that requires some time with only four specially adapted Sony Vaio laptops and peripherals. During performances carried the band members themselves aloof and mechanically clad in a uniform. It also philosophized about concerts without the band members are present, their task will be taken over by robots 3 . The group members are from the 1991 song The Robots / Die Roboter mostly replaced by robots 4 , which are lookalikes of the band members. From 1981, experimented during performances withcomputer animations . Guidance on the theme of the band's fascination with technology. If Kraftwerk album themes chosen often a feature of modern technology, such as radioactivity, robots or automation, and edited on a typical journalistic manner. From Radio-Activity / Radio-Aktivität from 1976 shows all albums in both an English and German version. Some songs are also versions in French (Tour de France, Les Mannequins), Japanese''(dentaku)'' or Spanish (Electric Cafe) listed. edit In 1968 keyboardist meet Ralf Hütter and flute player Florian Schneider-Esleben each other on a course in music improvisation "at the conservatory where they study. In 1968 the target with two fellow students 'Organisation (zur Verwirklichung Gemeinsamer musikalischer Konzepte) on a' student band with open structures. Hütter is playing keys, Schneider flute . 5 . In January 1969 plays the six-member group, which is influenced by Pink Floyd and Tangerine Dream in Jazzkeller in Krefeld. In 1970 when they bring Organisation - the album Tone Float at RCA . from which the album also distributes internationally 6 off. Half a year later the name changed to Kraftwerk (the German word for power and power) and buys Schneider, who is from a well-off environment architect, his first synthesizer. In March 1970, after the departure of some members and the joining of drummer Klaus Dinger and Andreas Hohmann, the group renamed Kraftwerk. Initially Florian Schneider ranks as the undisputed leader. "For me, Florian founder of Kraftwerk," says former friend Eberhard Kranemann. "The whole idea came from him. Later that changed and Ralf Hütter became the boss of the band." 7 The four take in September 1970 with the label of Philips their first - untitled - album, which sold more than fifty thousand copies. The song Ruck-Zuck being a cult hit in progressive clubs in Germany, acquired some fame as the opening tune of the German TV program Kennzeichen D 8 Without Hütter seized his architecture studies, but Eberhard Kranemann (bass, cello), Michael Rother (guitar) and Dinger does Kratftwerk his first TV appearance in the program Beat Club. Drummer Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother keyboardist left the band in 1971, and the related focus Neu! on. With the returned Hütter, Schneider takes in the late summer of 1971 in seven days 9 is also titled second album of Kraftwerk, which in Germany sixty thousand copies sold. 10 The two albums are, apart from the numbers, just from each other in that the one holding a red / white 11 and the other a green / white12 traffic cone on the cover has. In 1973 make the two original members with the help of artist Emil Schult lp (Ralf + Florian 13 ), to form the group gradually from 1974 with which they have been known for years: Ralf Hütter, Florian Schneider, Karl Bartos and Wolfgang Flur . All albums are produced by Konrad Conny Plank co result in the seventies and eighties, a much sought- producer is, for example by Ultravox and the Eurythmics . The group gets under Hütter little acclaim in Germany, especially in the early days. "In this country, we were laughed at," he said in 2009. "We even had to cancel tours because no one came to the concerts." 14 "In the late sixties, we could not even find a place to perform," says Hütter. "So we demolish the art world, with its happenings. 15 Despite the group after the appearance of Ralf + Florian by the German music magazine Sounds is voted 'most beloved band and Schneider for "Instrumentalist of the Year 1973, but the group is especially popular with fellow musicians. 9 The first albums later ignored by the group. They are never officially released on CD - and only as bootleg available. Nor are they available and the numbers online since 1976 never played live. According Hütter regards the period prior Autobahn 'early development'. "Autobahn is our first concept album" 16 edit Kraftwerk's breakthrough comes in 1974 with the album Autobahn 17 , which sold half a million copies in Germany. 18 On the album, the band first used a Minimoog , certainly an extremely expensive device at that time. The 22-minute, eponymous opening track ended in the worldwide charts . Autobahn is the last album produced by Plank, then the members of Kraftwerk take over the production of their albums upon himself. Kraftwerk (1976): Ralf Hütter , Karl Bartos ,Wolfgang Flur and Florian Schneider . The successor of Autobahn, Radio-Activity / Radio-Aktivität 19 , Kraftwerk could not repeat the success, except in France, where the title track to the first place of the charts reached. The album is both a paean to the radio, with parts of radio broadcasts as the basis for songs like Airwaves, as nuclear power - including by the sound of a Geiger counter to process the music. For promotion to the Dutch Nuclear Dodewaard publicity photos 20 made. Only much later, with an edited version of the title track to the 1991 dating compilation album The Mix is the message emphatically anti-nuclear, with initial nuclear disasters and accidents in Chernobyl , Harrisburg and Sellafield are compared to the US atomic bombing of Hiroshima . In 1992 the band in Britain occurs in the anti-nuclear demonstration against the British nuclear power station at Sellafield 21 .Live the song since preceded by an electronic voice intro, the risks of nuclear power are cited. After the nuclear disaster in Fukushima in 2012, the text of the song live again adjusted, where 'Hiroshima' is replaced by 'Fukushima'. All albums since Autobahn originated and largely incorporated in Kraftwerks own Kling Klang Studios, the location of which is jealously kept secret. The studio, described by Hütter as a large space and a workshop where both instruments been built recognized as music, are long time in a courtyard at the Mintropstrasse 16 in central Düsseldorf. Since the turn of the studio would be in Osterath suburb, near the residence of Schneider. 22 Additionally admissions take place in regular recording studios in cities such as London, Berlin, Dusseldorf and Los Angeles will take place. In the Netherlands, used the band Wisseloord Studios in Hilversum recordings for Radio-Activity and Trans Europe Express 23 . On March 21, 1976 shall Kraftwerk for the first time in the Netherlands, De Doelen in Rotterdam 24 . In September, the band will return for performances in Utrecht, Groningen, the Stick Vishal in Arnhem and atParadiso , Amsterdam 24 . Paradiso on September 11, 1976 for the first time the song Trans Europe Express 25 performed, involving Ralf Hütter in March 2004 - almost perfect Dutch - refers to as Kraftwerk number performs during a performance at the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam: In 1976 we played the next next composition for the first time in Paradiso Amsterdam. In March 1977 the song appears on the album Trans-Europe Express / Trans Europe Express 26 which railways and travel as its theme. The motive of the title number, without the consent of the band, used in 1983 by New York DJ Afrika Bambaataa for his song Planet Rock, one of the first hip-hop songs. Recordings for the album Trans Europe Express is frequented by David Bowie and Iggy Pop , which talks about cooperation. The meeting is mentioned in the lyrics of the song Trans Europe Express ("Wir laufen" rein in Dusseldorf City / Und take Iggy Pop und David Bowie). Bowie Bears in 1977 the largely instrumental song V-2 Schneider Album Heroes on to Kraftwerklid Florian Schneider 27 , but it is unclear whether this has ever collaborated on the song. edit The Man-Machine / Mensch Machine 28 from 1978 contains the single The Model / Das Model, which will eventually grow into Kraftwerks biggest hit 29 . The leading British music magazine NME called the album "one of the highlights of the seventies rock music" 30 . A great commercial success the album is not only in the United Kingdom as the album reached top ten 29 . In 1981, following the album Computer World / Komputerwelt 31 which then unknown developments such as the Internet, online dating (Computer Love) and electronic music (Pocket Calculator) are sung. Computer Love appears as a single, but its B-side, The Model is a hit. The song reached in 1981, the number-one position 29 in Britain, after all to place 26 came with the original release in 1978. The new popularity is prompted by the emergence of synth pop bands like Human League and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark While Kraftwerk album grows the Kling Klang Studio so that it - in part - can be taken on tour. They also bring the band on October 12, 1981 to the Netherlands, where it occurred in Vredenburg 32 . During the song the band Pocket Calculator allows the audience to be handed keyboards play 33 Work on the album Techno Pop is shut down in 1983 after a bicycle accident bandmate Hütter 34 , although Hütter the consequences of the accident later downplays 34 . However, it is from the recording sessions the song released as a single Tour de France. Some songs from Techno Pop are reprocessed and appear with new material in 1986 on the album Electric Cafe 35 Percussionist Wolfgang Flur has already left the group 36 , as more and more use of sequencers . Flur is succeeded by Fritz Hilpert, who works for years as a studio technician. After Electric Café, the band takes a long break spent on digitizing their own music and sounds that are used for this purpose 37 . This leads eventually in 1991 for the album The Mix 38 where Kraftwerk songs reworked thoroughly to join them by the affected house and techno -scene, which then is at its peak. After ten years of Kraftwerk go touring again, but without Karl Bartos, the band leaves 36 because of creative differences. Bartos is ultimately for performances and in the studio followed by Henning Schmitz. During the tour again Vredenburg in Utrecht done. In May 1993 follows the same tour as part of a performance in theOosterpoort in Groningen. New work In 1999 Kraftwerk brings thirteen years after a new song. Expo 2000 from a song for the World Fair in the summer of 2000 in the German city Hanover ( Expo 2000 ) was held. The band gets 400,000 Deutschmark (over 205,000 euros) 39 paid for the use of sound clips from the track by the organization of the World, an amount that leads to a lot of criticism in Germany 40 . In November 2000 following a CD with others edited versions of the song. Kraftwerk himself edited Expo 2000 ultimately Planet of visions which is regularly performed live. In August 2003, Kraftwerk brings the first new album in 17 years out, Tour de France soundtracks 41 , which is dedicated to Ralf Hütter's obsession with cycling and the Tour de France . Although the theme is based on the same premise as the song Tour de France in 1983 , the album consists entirely of new material. The band does this year a surprise appearance at the MTV Europe Music Awards in Edinburgh, Scotland, where the number Aero Dynamik is announced by Kylie Minogue . March 21 2008 dies former percussionist Klaus Dinger, just before his 62nd birthday. In January 2009, Kraftwerk on its website 42 officially announced that co-founder Florian Schneider -Esleben after 40 years leaves the band. Schneider joined since 2006 no longer with the band in which he was replaced by Stefan Pfaffe live, which will be replaced in turn in 2012 by Falk Grieffenhagen. Hütter, still the only official member of the band, said in an interview with The Guardian Schneider years has not contributed to the band and claims to not miss him or to speak longer 34 . A cool aloof attitude in line with the experiences of previously left core members Wolfgang Flur and Karl Bartos 36 . In October 2009 appears The Catalogue / Der Katalog 43 , a boxed set of eight CDs. Then digitally remastered versions of eight albums between 1975 and 2003 have been published. Electric Cafe thereby received the original title, Techno Pop back. In 2011, appears in the iTunes store Kling Klang Machine 44 , an app (3.59 euros) to nonstop music can be played using sounds and themes from Kraftwerks Kling Klang Studios. Rumors that we are working to hold a ninth studio album, sometimes fueled by statements from Hütter, for years 45 "It is fast, very fast," Hütter says it all in 2009. "We work 168 hours a week." 46 And in 2012: "It's fast." 47 Live Although the band since 1991 regularly again occurs, around the release date of the first Tour de France soundtracks tour started in twelve years in 2003, Minimum-Maximum. In March 2004, the band is thus in a sold out Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam, after the concert due to high demand has moved from the adjacent Pepsi Stage 24 . In 2005 this tour displays the same live double album 48 , which is composed of several live recordings. Again following a tour. In that context enters the band on July 1, 2005 in 013 in Tilburg. In March 2009 opening Kraftwerk for the Radiohead tour in South America. After the publication of The Catalogue in 2010 Kraftwerk continues to tour 49 . The group takes eighteen months to prepare all eight songs from the albums both musically and visually for live performances 50 . This eventually leads to multi-day concerts each occurrence one of the eight Catalogue albums played integral, plus songs from other albums. The first 51 it takes place in 2012 at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. The band has since prefers shows in museums and art institutions. For example, in 2013 the Catalogue Series in London eight times in the Turbine Hall of the Tate Modern occurred in Dusseldorf home ten times in the Grabbe-hall of the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen and in Sydney, Australia eight times in the Opera . Kraftwerk then gives meanwhile 3D concerts where the custom background projections an anaglyph received 3D effect to be viewed through a viewer on each issued 3D glasses. Particularly at the numbers''Spacelab'' and Man-Machine is the 3D effect in the strong room. On 17 and October 18, 2013 Kraftwerk gives four sold 3D concerts in the Evoluon in Eindhoven . 52 Ralf Hütter has personally selected the venue because of the retro-futuristic look of the building and the link with owner Philips Electronics , where the band first plates issued. While the number Spacelab on the video screens to see a special concerts produced 3D animation of the saucer section of the Evoluon coming down from space. 53 Since then, the dish animation attach part of the 3D presentation at live concerts. Beginning in 2015 Kraftwerk plays his Catalogue series in the Nation Neue Galerie in Berlin and returns to the group after 39 years back to Paradiso , Amsterdam. Plans for the octologie in the National Museum of Cinema Museum Eye to perform in Amsterdam, prove unattainable. 54 . Of the eight 3D concerts in the concert hall hit seven sold out immediately. The concert is in the national press 55 56 and the music press 57met with great acclaim. During the Spacelab number shows the band see a 3D animation of the façade of Paradiso, where the 'Evoluon-UFO landing. Secretly visited Ralf Hütter at the Amsterdam concert Ronda Hall Tivolivredenburg in Utrecht, where the band earlier in 1981 and 1991 occurred in the large hall 58 . That leads tor announcing a concert on July 3, 2015 59 , the night before the Grand Depart of the Hütter admired by Tour de France in Utrecht. Since the first concert sells out immediately, a night concert is added, followed by a third performance on July 4. This would include a full implementation of Tour de France Soundtracks 60 . Stage Presentation Initially Kraftwerk take much studio equipment to concerts. During the tour around the album The Mix in 1991, arranged in an inverted V shape on stage for projection which basic computer animations are projected. From 1998 onwards increasingly made use of computers and digital music players, which also recently developed a substantial portion seem. The group plays since 2002 as desks next to each other up to video screens. Because the four members of the band during live performances take little exercise, which is part of the Kraftwerk concept, since 2002 on stage using laptops and later on computer screens, tablets and devices for controlling their live music, Kraftwerk will sometimes criticized their music live is largely preprogrammed. "In the seventies there was more physical activity during our performances," said Ralf Hütter in 2013, "but today it is more sensitive. We press buttons, put switches and operate sliders. We have all kinds of gadgets."[ 61] 62 "We are always working on new music and new sounds that we process. It's minimal compositions which we can improvise and vary. At Autobahn we can live adjust traffic and weather, the cars formed on the stage and all sounds and mixes his live. " 63 Also can be heard on concert recordings that things go wrong. "If you're above it, this is obviously not so funny," says Hütter in 2009. "You do not know how long it takes and whether it can be corrected. Fortunately, they are generally successful. It can always happen. It is the man -Machine, it is not just a machine. " 64 In concert recordings made in Paradiso 65 66 shows that the four members on stage both melodies, bass lines, effects and add drum sounds to preset basic tracks. Also, sounds are manipulated live changed in pitch and tempo and air effects . Live features Hütter, which the far left of the stage, as only a full keyboard with which he handles chords and melodies. Hütter is also the only one who takes vocals, often on his own recorded voice over. Fritz Hilpert (second from left) is responsible for the bass lines and melodies second, Henning Schmitz for the effects and percussion and - since 2013 - Falk Grief Hagen offers live images. Since 2009 uses powerful (3D) projectors. The band worked for four years to adapt his stage act to 3D images. "It's a combination of multimedia," Hütter says 2015 67 "Before, we were still using slides, paintings and drawings. Since 2009 we are working with 3D. The Museum of Modern Art in New York invited us for the retrospective, and when we converted our entire repertoire to 3D. " All images are made in house, by video programmer Grieffenhagen. "We are not Disney or Hollywood Studio," Hütter says, "we do everything ourselves, all comes from the Kling Klang Studio." Grieffenhagen, who scored right on stage, serves all animations. "He is also a musician, so he has the right feeling to arrange the animations on the music. A typical graphic artist understands the music and the rhythms do not." 68 The multi-day concert Kraftwerk used his own stage - that all equipment is eliminated - and its own sound system with 3D surround sound. Influences In the music of Kraftwerk, especially in the early years, sound influences from avant-garde, experimental musicians as Karlheinz Stockhausen and Pierre Boulez . Hütter calls itself The Beach Boys as a major source.Stylistically at gigs the band leans on minimalist live performance artists like Gilbert & George 69 . Kraftwerk is itself known as one of the most influential bands ever 69 70 . According to many, including the British journalist Paul Morley 71 and bandmate Andy McCluskey of OMD 72 was Kraftwerks influence on popular music even bigger than The Beatles 73 . In January 2015 organized the British Aston University in Birmingham a two-day academic conference on Kraftwerk and the influence of the group 74 75 David Bowie late for his album Heroes by Kraftwerk influence 76 . Kraftwerk played a key role in the rise of the electronic new wave in the late seventies (with acts like The Human League , Ultravox ! and Gary Numans Tubeway Army and the popularity of synth pop from 1980. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark makes no secret of heavily influenced by Kraftwerk and calls his second album Organisation to the original group Kraftwerk. Bands like New Order (a motif used in uranium for Blue Monday), Depeche Mode and Simple Minds cite Kraftwerk as a major inspiration. Kraftwerk also means giving samples, which often are used without permission, in the early eighties also initiated the development of hip-hop musical 77 . Especially acts as Cybotron (which raps about the motive of Showroom Dummies) and Africa Bambaataa and The Soul Sonic Force (Planet Rock with extensive samples from Trans Europe Express) are an example of this. Even years later, still Kraftwerk Samples used in rapnummers, like Sunshine by Jay-Z in 1997. But the main flow which is influenced by Kraftwerk, the house music and its subgenres. House Techno pioneer Juan Atkins , who Cybotron previously led Kraftwerk, says, in 2012: "Without them, electronic music would be totally different. There probably would not even be dance music 69 . " In 2014 Kraftwerk receives a lifetime achievement Grammy " 78 which is accepted by Hütter. 79 Not everyone shares the admiration. Chief critic of the band is German music journalist Diedrich Diedrichsen Schneider and Hütter in from 2014 dating book On Pop describes as "Witzfiguren" lachertjes 80 , accusing them in an opinion article later that year of 'recycle, recycling and another recycle. 81 Controversy In 2000 days Hütter and Schneider former percussionist Wolfgang Flur to court over passages in his biography I was a robot / Ich war ein roboter 82 . There are extravagant parties with Kraftwerk described in the seventies and shows a more private with the band members in the shower. Flur must be of the right to rewrite a part of the book. So should include claims be put right which Flur early seventies the electronic drums in the band would have invented while granted patents 83 demonstrate that Schneider who developed. Trivia * Kraftwerk has had much influence on British new wave - synthpop groups like Depeche Mode and Soft Cell . The song Talk of the band Coldplay (2005) uses the motif of Computer Liebe (Computer Love) in 1981. Walk Away by Franz Ferdinand has a part that 'borrowed' it is clear from The Model. * In 1983 used Afrika Bambaataa samples from the song "Trans-Europe Express" for his hip-hop classic "Planet Rock". * U2 has the number Neon Lights retreaded. This stands as a B-side on the single Vertigo. Simple Minds name his fourteenth studio album, with covers of other artists, to the song and brings Neon Lights out as a single. * Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark on their CD Sugar Tax also put a version of Neon Lights, sweet girl with a big voice and a beat ... * Although the sound of the choir and the strings on Radioaktivität and Trans Europe Express very much resembles that of a mellotron , Kraftwerk was actually using a orchestron . This is by Ralf Hütter in 1975 in the United States purchased, when they were there on the Autobahn -tour. Later, they were transferred to samples. * The German metal band Rammstein recorded a cover of the song "Das Model". * Czech supermodel Veronika Zemanova coverde also "The Model", in the sense that she sings it as if it is sung model (ie, "I'm a model ... 'instead of' She's a model ...) . The release of the CD in Britain fell through when the management of Kraftwerk Veronika's rendition in the TV program "Eurotrash" (Channel 4) prohibited. * The Romanian Balanescu Quartet brings in 1992 the album posessed from which the chamber five songs from Kraftwerk covered. Underneath The Robots, The Model and Autobahn. It will only be used traditional acoustic instruments. The quartet will occur in April 1993 along at the Paradiso in Amsterdam. * The song Radioactivity from 1975 (originally a tribute to old radio jingles and other radio'activiteiten) was modernized in 1991 and is used as a protest song against the use of nuclear technology. In it they clearly refer to accidents in Sellafield , Harrisburg and Chernobyl , and also to Hiroshima . In 1992, they play it at a festival in Sellafield which by Greenpeace organized. When in 2011 the nuclear disaster at Japan's Fukushima place also it is included in the number. During performances, the first refrain from that moment in Japanese. * Kraftwerk is notoriously difficult to access, especially for journalists. So the story goes that Kling Klang studio does have a phone but without bell 84 , so that the musicians can not be disturbed during their work.34 .If Heute journal of the German TV channel ZDF in 2009. attention to the band, one of the robots delegated to the interviews. "The robot can express themselves much better," says Hütter. "And he is more patient with exposure and shooting." 85 * The band rarely interviewing and often achieve only after many detours 34 . Spontaneous interviews walk nearly always hilarious confrontations, as in 1998, a Brazilian TV presenter encountered 86 . Ralf Hütter passes after 1981. 87 only phone interviews to the media. * For fellow artists the band is hardly accessible, especially in later years. When the British band Coldplay in 2005, the motive of the number Kraftwerk Computer Love wants to use for the number - and the subsequent single - Talk , are unable to get permission, even though they are both bands than with music company EMI . Only after singer Chris Martin at his best high-school German handwritten letter 88sends to the address of Kraftwerks Kling Klang Studios in Düsseldorf, there will be a reaction. The same letter comes back with simply the word "Yes" in the margin 89 . * Kraftwerk is gepersifleerd by Jiskefet as TechnoFax with 'Bunte Illustrierte 90 . " * The British comedian / musician Bill Bailey satirizing Kraftwerk in two successive theater shows, first with his Kraftwerks sung Hokey Kokey ''91 , which also appears as a single, later with the comparable''Hosenbugler ( Trouser press ) 92 * Kraftwerk should not occur in China, possibly because they had once pledged to act in concert for Tibet , even though the concert was canceled. 93 * In the movie "The Big Lebowski" from 1998 Coen Brothers looks the main character "The Dude" Lebowski on a visit to the daughter of his namesake Maude Lebowski in the vinyl record collection of her and sees a LP of the band " Autobahn "called" Nagelbett "a very clear reference to Kraftwerk. The members of this "nihilistenband" Uli Kunkel / Karl Hungus' Kieffer and Franz are played respectively by Peter Stormare, Flea (Michael Peter Balzary, bassist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers ) and Torsten Voges, and blackmail (unsuccessfully) the protagonist. Composition ; Membership * Ralf Hütter - vocals vocoder, synthesizers, keyboards (1970-present) organ, drums and percussion, guitar, bass guitar (1970-1974) * Fritz Hilpert - electronic percussion, engineer (1987-present) * Henning Schmitz - electronic percussion, live keyboards (1991-present) , engineer (1978-present) * Falk Grieffenhagen - live video technician (2013-present) ; Former members * Florian Schneider -Esleben - synthesizers, backing vocals, vocoder, computer-generated vocals, flute (acoustic and electronic), live saxophone, percussion, electric guitar, violin (1970-2008) * Houschäng Néjadepour - electric guitar (1970) * Plato Kostic (aka Plato Riviera) - bass guitar (1970) * Peter Schmidt - drums (1970) * Charly Weiss - drums (1970) * Thomas Lohmann - drums (1970) * Eberhard Kranemann - bass guitar (1970) * Andreas Hohmann - drums (1970) * Klaus Dinger - drums (1970-1971) * Michael Rother - electric guitar (1971) * Emil Schult - electric guitar, electric violin (1973) * Wolfgang Flur - electronic percussion (1973-1987) * Klaus Röder - electric guitar, electric violin (1974) * Karl Bartos - electronic percussion, live vibraphone, live keyboards (1975-1991) * Fernando Abrantes - electronic percussion, synthesizer (1991) . Would be fired because he without the consent of the band did a DJ gig in Sheffield, or too much moved during performances 94 . * Stefan Pfaffe - live video technician (2008-2012) Discography Radio 2 Top 2000 Category:Electro Category:Kraftwerk Category:Techno